What happens when all the hospitals are overwhelmed? What’s the protocol?

[MissMessy12]

Just that really. The reality of the severity has sunk in. What happens when hospitals cannot admit anymore patients, supplies are sparse and medical professionals can no longer cope with demand? What’s the protocol? Will people really be left to die?

Yes, they’ll be forced to consider who has the best chance of benefitting from treatment.

news.sky.com/story/covid-19-nightingale-hospitals-being-readied-for-use-as-covid-patient-numbers-rise-12176338

www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/apr/01/doctors-choose-life-saving-treatment-ethical-rules

I’m very afraid. I will stay indoors and have no contact with the outside world

"Left to die" is overstating it*. The acceptance criteria for ITU and CPAP will be raised, so only those most likely to survive will get it. Everyone else will be offered palliative care. This is already happening in LA: www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-12-31/l-a-county-hospital-hit-breaking-point-no-one-would-believe-this-is-in-the-united-states

*I hope.

It'll be a total crap shoot. Some people will get lucky. Others will not. It's an awful situation.

In Lombardy they didn't come for them. They died at home.

@coronafiona

In Lombardy they didn't come for them. They died at home.

That’s really made me so sad 😞 how awful

There was a consultant on the radio who said that he had to make the choice of who to give an ITU bed to.

He had to choose between an older gentleman suffering from cancer and a pregnant lady in her 30s. He chose to give the bed to the pregnant lady as that was trying to save 2 lives.

Yes we will die.

Borris will say never mind your all going to die but we must keep schools open. Poor Tommy he can’t stay at home he needs to see his friends fuck everyone else you life means fuck all Tommy needs to go to school

It's not just the Covid patients though, that's what everyone seems to be forgetting. Normal events (heart attack/stroke/ appendicitis/ aneurysms/ RTA etc ) which while life threatening can be treated, won't be treated so many more deaths which in ordinary times wouldn't happen will happen now. The British medical journal state that 20 out of 100 people with covid will be serious / critical condition. In 48 hrs we've had 100,000+ cases. That's a potential of 20,000 needing a hospital bed.

Yes people will be left to die at home as there will be no space and no one to take care of them. And others who could be saved will also die because the hospitals are overrun with COVID.

They might think about closing schools but probably not.

Germany is closing schools, and they haven't had anything like our numbers.
I hate the thought of schools being closed but we do need to. The stupid thing is it won't be for long as we knew the second wave would be bad, and we're going into spring so naturally the virus will start to ebb and we now have a vaccine. We just need to buy a bit more time.
It's not just adults who will die. What will happen to children with severe asthma? Cystic fibrosis? What about meningitis?
The whole point of the first lockdown was to prevent the NHS getting overwhelmed. We're failing now, and so first lock down was completely bloody pointless.

On the battlefield and in disaster zones, they triage based on how likely someone is to survive. Those whose prospects are poor - well, they basically don’t get treatment. Some would have died even with the best treatment, but some would have survived. Now they won’t. Hopefully they will get morphine.

Will people really be left to die?

Yes I'm afraid that is likely to be the reality. Ambulances won't be available to attend to people. Social media will be full of distressing stories about people dying in awful circumstances. Many will be alone, in pain and frightened and there simply will not be anyone available to alleviate their symptoms or comfort them.

Still a friend managed to mix with 4 households in a tier 2 area over Christmas, with two of the household having travelled for a few days stay from tier 4. It must have been lovely. I'll try not to judge and show some humanity! Shame there'll be fuck all humanity for those left to a shitty death.

Don't get sick.

Those least likely to survive will get palliative care. It’s not actually that unusual, we don’t give transplants and advanced cancer therapies to older victims less likely to get much value out of scarce resources either.

People die.
What on earth do you think will happen?
Why do you think the economy and s destroyed? For fun? No. To keep people alive.

@TheKeatingFive

Those least likely to survive will get palliative care. It’s not actually that unusual, we don’t give transplants and advanced cancer therapies to older victims less likely to get much value out of scarce resources either.

Who will get palliative care. Not the emergency heart / stroke / sepsis etc they'll just die. I'm going to mention children will die too as sepsis in children is curable if caught in time. We will see more children dying. Covid pts won't get palliative. Not enough specialist. Palliative care is shockingly underfunded for 'normal dying' without a pandemic.

@TheKeatingFive

Those least likely to survive will get palliative care. It’s not actually that unusual, we don’t give transplants and advanced cancer therapies to older victims less likely to get much value out of scarce resources either.

not pleasant or ideal though is it when the choice is between two patients that have a good chance of surviving given the right treatment.

The minimising of this situation continues even now.

Who’s minimising? I’m just stating what’s likely to happen.

You are.

How? I’m stating facts.